Stood on woman’s neck asking if she could breathe

Staff Reporter

A Bogside man who stood on a woman’s neck asking her whether or not she could breathe during a serious assault, has been sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.

Caolan Hayden (24), of Tyrconnell Street, was jailed after pleading guilty to assaulting the woman on two occasions last yea.

He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of assaulting a police officer.

A PPS solicitor told Derry Magistrate’s Court how Hayden had been at a party hosted by the injured party on August 28.

The day after the party police received a complaint from the injured party that Hayden had “hit her in the face fully” between 6.30 am and 7.00 am. When providing a statement, the woman informed police of another incident, which had occurred in March 2016, during which she was also attacked by Hayen.

Shetold police Hayden had put his foot on her neck asking: “Can you not breathe?” during the assault on March 28. She eventually got free but did not report it. She did, however, attend hospital, while her sister took photos of her injuries.

On April 21, of this year assaulted a police officer by tripping when he was being arrested for a bail breach.

During interview Hayden said he knew nothing about the injuries and said it “wasn’t in his nature to assault police.”

Defence barrister Eoghan Devlin said his client was under no illusion as to whether or not he would be receiving a custodial sentence.

However, he asked the court to give him some credit for not contesting the charges.

Mr. Devlin said Hayden was still a young man and pointed out that a Pre-Sentence report showed several difficulties he faced in his life.

District Judge Barney McElholm noted that the Probation Report observed that Hayden was still denying causing the injuries and that he “shows absolutely no remorse even going as far as to blame the victim for her injuries.”. A Restraining Order was also imposed.